Sacrificed
by kittykatloren
Summary: The first time he kissed Lin Beifong, she punched him. He probably deserved it, he supposed. He was ten and she was nine, and he had no idea what he was doing, only that he'd seen his parents kissing and heard from Kya and Bumi that that was what boys and girls did when they liked each other. Lin/Tenzin oneshot, also a little bit of Tenzin/Pema. Follows canon.


**A/N:** Even though I ship Tenzin and Pema, and I love their story and their family (read my other piece, Where You Belong, for that side of my shipper heart), the relationship between Tenzin and Lin is obviously something really special. This is my tribute to them - Tenzin's reflections on Lin, and what they used to be.

**Words: **2323  
**Characters:** Tenzin, Lin  
**Time: **Post-TLA  
**Genre:** Friendship/Romance/Angst

**Disclaimer: **Everything you recognize belongs to whoever owns Avatar: The Legend of Korra. Not me.

* * *

The first time he kissed Lin Beifong, she punched him.

He probably deserved it, he supposed. He was ten and she was nine, and he had no idea what he was doing, only that he'd seen his parents kissing and heard from Kya and Bumi that that was what boys and girls did when they liked each other.

But what shocked him even more than a fist to the face was what happened afterward. Lin started to cry. She _never_ cried. Rubbing his sore cheek, Tenzin started to apologize profusely, his terrified ten-year-self knowing only that he would give anything for the tears on her cheeks to vanish, because crying girls were even scarier than regular girls.

"Please don't cry, Lin," he begged. "I didn't mean to make you cry. I thought it was supposed to make you happy. Bumi told me it would, he told me to do it!"

"You only did it because Bumi told you to? You idiot!" Lin said, and she hit him again, though half-heartedly.

"No!" When she stubbornly strode away, Tenzin stumbled after her, gawky and awkward and at the moment, a little shorter than she was. "I did it because I like you! _Like_ you. You know."

He blushed and stared at the ground. She turned and stared him down, her eyes still red. When she spoke again, her voice was unusually quiet. "Why?"

He hadn't expected that. What ten-year-old boy knew _why_ they liked a girl? What nine-year-old girl wanted to know that, anyway?

"Because… because…" Struggling, Tenzin closed his eyes in embarrassment and shouted out the first thing that popped into his head. "Because you're _Lin_!"

Her mouth was a little bit open, and then she frowned, her cheeks flaming. Without saying a word, she ran to him, kissed him on the cheek, then ran away just as fast, and when Tenzin tried to chase after her, she made the ground shake under his feet so much that he fell over. So he figured it was best to give her space. The next time they saw each other, Lin acted as if nothing had happened, so Tenzin did, too. It was both a relief and a bit disappointed, but he still didn't really know why.

It wasn't until he was about twelve, though, that the word love even crossed his mind. Not that he knew what love was, not at all. But the word itself was powerful. What else could he feel for her, after, after all this time?

Lin never outright said she liked him, anyway, so he wasn't about to say _I love you. _They would kiss shyly sometimes, and she would blush and smile, which was really rather uncommon, so that had to mean something.

One time, they were meditating together under the stars – it was Tenzin's favorite place, and Lin had learned to love it too because of that. It was a habit they had picked up from Tenzin's father. At age thirteen, Tenzin sat quietly beneath a full moon with twelve-year-old Lin at his side. When her head dropped onto his shoulder, he frowned.

"You can't sleep when you're mediating," he said, with all the authority he could muster. His voice hadn't changed yet, and sometimes he still sounded like a kid.

"Be quiet. I was training all day with Mother. I'm tired."

It was a fair complaint. So Tenzin let her rest there, feeling each puff of her breath like a feather on the skin of his neck. His heart began to pound.

She had to have been half-asleep, or else she never would have said it. But out there alone, the world was silent save for whispering trees and a sudden murmur of "I like you, Tenzin."

He couldn't meditate after that. His mind was too full, his heart too fast. So he simply sat and liked her back, loved her even, though he still didn't tell her that.

And despite her brusqueness, her aloof and tough attitude that only hardened all the more as they grew up together, she was the first one to say "I love you." It was shortly after he had received his airbender tattoos, a great honor that left him bedridden and bandaged for days. Lin came to visit every day. He could only smile weakly at first, but when her lips touched his ear and he heard those three words, he could have moved mountains. All for her.

The first stirrings of desire caught them both by surprise. They were older teenagers when suddenly kissing wasn't enough. So they would sneak out of their homes, never really knowing how their parents didn't catch them, and meet at some quiet, peaceful spot.

"Are you nervous?" Lin asked him, the first time.

"Are you?"

They both smiled that little smile they had only for each other, halfway between a laugh and a breathless grin. Yes, but I'm with you, so I'm not scared. It didn't even need to be said. And after, when the sun was rising and their eyelids drooping, Tenzin simply held her and believed with his whole heart that there would never, could never, be anyone he loved in his life as much as he loved Lin.

Lin got her first job working under her mother in Republic City. It frustrated Tenzin, how busy she was, but he understood. She had never had the patience to stay with him during his duties at Air Temple Island, anyway. She needed thrills.

"How do you do it?" she asked one day.

"Do what?"

"Spend all your time here, doing nothing."

Tenzin stared at her in surprise. "It's not nothing. I'm honoring my culture, learning from my father, searching for the truth."

"But it's got to be boring. Know what I did today? I caught one of the biggest thieves in the Lower District! He thought he could get away by an underground tunnel, way under the mountains, but I felt him there, even that far away. Even Mother was impressed. I made the thing collapse around him, dug him out, cuffed him myself and brought him to Mother."

Sighing, Tenzin gave her a perfunctory smile, but in his heart he was still a little confused, almost annoyed. How could she believe her work was more important than his? It was like when they were kids and would jokingly argue about whether airbending or earthbending was better. He wasn't about to get into that kind of argument now, but part of him wanted to say, _What if that thief had a family to feed?,_ just to rile her.

Their disagreements increased in frequency till Tenzin's father died. Avatar Aang's early passing into the spirit world hit both of them hard. That was the second time he saw Lin Beifong cry. At Aang's memorial service, where hundreds of people from all over the four nations gathered to honor his life, Lin grasped Tenzin's hand and laid her head on his shoulder. Tenzin wasn't sure he could support her, shaking as he was, but he let her cry silently beside him.

"What will we do without him?" Lin said later that night. All of the people who spoke at the funeral – Lin's and Tenzin's mothers, Fire Lord Zuko, so many friends – all had spoken of Aang's hopeful dreams for the future, the grand accomplishments of his life. They didn't mention the time he took Tenzin penguin sledding for the first time, or how he had taught Lin to laugh smile even when working. They all said instead that a new Avatar was soon to be born, Aang's legacy. But just now, the idea of a new Avatar was not exactly a comfort.

"We'll find his successor," Tenzin answered, speaking as if by rote. "The cycle continues… I must help the Order of the White Lotus keep the next Avatar safe…"

"Don't say that," Lin said harshly. "Don't act like he's just replaceable."

"Replaceable? He was my father, Lin."

Lin looked away. "I didn't mean it like that. I just… I miss him."

Tenzin wrapped his arms around her. She clung to him, too, breathless and tense. They found each other again that night, when their hearts were twisted by the same grief, and Tenzin thought they would be closer than ever, for the rest of their lives. But soon enough, the rift grew again.

He had taken over the running of Air Temple Island and his father's job on the council; she, the position of Chief of Police in Republic City. They saw less and less of each other, and when they did, it would often be for business. Even when other beloved friends and family died, Lin's mother, Tenzin's uncle Sokka, there was no time for them to reconnect.

"Have you ever thought… we ought to get married, Lin?" Tenzin asked, rather suddenly. It had been eating at him almost since the day his father died. Tenzin was now the last airbender. He had to – and thankfully, he wanted to – start a family.

Lin shot a stony glare at him. "What makes you bring that up now?"

He rubbed the back of his next, confused. "Well, we've been together as long as I can remember. Aren't we always going to be together?"

"You know the kind of work I have to do. I can't… I can't sacrifice my career for personal matters. I don't want to right now."

She wasn't looking at him when she spoke. Her words hit Tenzin like a physical blow; he took a step backwards to steady himself. He knew what she meant at once. Personal matters… Family matters. "You… you don't want to start a family." It was not a question.

"I can't right now, Tenzin! I'm sorry, but that's the way it is." Her gray eyes were sharp when they finally met his. "I still love you. I do. But that's the truth. And if that's not something we can agree on…"

She turned her back on him. Tenzin stretched out a hand to stop her, opened his mouth to call to her, but stopped. Part of him had known for years that this was coming. Everything that made them who they were was pushing them apart, slowly but surely, and it was too much now. He let her go, turned around himself, until her voice made him halt in his tracks.

"You're supposed to stop me!"

Metal cables caught his wrists and yanked him backwards, his feet skidding on marble as she whipped him around. "Lin?!"

"You're supposed to call me back and tell me it doesn't matter," she growled, her face inches from his.

"But – Lin – it does matter to me! Let go!"

Her eyes widened, and she looked down at his bound hands. At once she withdrew her cables, touching the red skin of his wrists, her mouth open slightly. Tenzin pulled his hands away. "I'm sorry, Lin," he said quietly. She was silent, her eyes still round, like they had been when they were children. Tenzin felt her gaze boring into his retreating back like a drill. Her whisper reached his ears a faint echo, carried softly by the tall, smooth walls.

"I'm sorry too."

But he didn't turn around. It wouldn't be fair to let her see him cry.

It was in the next few weeks that he really got to know Pema. She changed everything. In all the time he'd known her, he hadn't suspected at all how she felt about him; but when she told him, suddenly everything made sense. He finally understood the peaceful heart his father used to speak of, the warmth that came from being with the one person who made you whole. But though his heart was calm and content, his mind continued to whirl. A life without Lin at his side was hard to wrap his head around at first.

Over time, everything worked out, of course. He had everything he could ever have dreamed of. Pema, his beautiful bride and the mother of his children, and even Lin, his friend once again.

Which made the Equalists' attack on his home all the more painful. A deliberate destruction of everything he held dear, all at once.

"Pema, trust me," he whispered in a urgent order. "You must flee. You must."

"Tenzin, I - "

"Let's go!" Lin shouted from up ahead.

With a supportive arm around her the whole way, Tenzin helped Pema and the baby in her arms onto Oogi's back. Their children followed them at once, and they were off, with Lin standing guard in the back. With all his might Tenzin focused on the mountainous horizon ahead. If they could just get beyond the peaks – the bulky airships wouldn't be able to follow them through such a treacherous landscape. There his family would be safe.

And then he turned around. He shouldn't have. He should have known not to look back. Because he saw the look in Lin's eyes and knew, before she spoke, what she was about to do. They knew each other too well for her to hide anything anymore.

"No, Lin," he breathed.

The smile she gave him was uncharacteristically gentle. Her gaze swept over Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, Pema, and baby Rohan.

It was the life she could have had, if she had so chosen. The loving family, children of air and earth. It all could have been hers. She was not without the love or warmth needed to be a mother, not at all; the depth of the affection in her eyes proved that without a doubt. But that was not the life for her. She had sacrificed it for a different calling.

Metal cables shot from her wrists, and she took flight without a backward glance. Tenzin watched her go in shock and awe.

She had chosen the life of a warrior, and he couldn't imagine her any other way.


End file.
